Dhaka Diary

Once again after a gap of almost two years, I was heading towards Bangladesh. Last time in the year 2015, I was there and had a very memorable experience. But this time, it was not by the same route. Last time I entered Bangladesh from Karimganj of Assam but now as I am stationed at Allahabad so I had to enter Bangladesh from Kolkata. I reached Kolkata two days in advance and went to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission Office for Visa. Initially, I thought that visa will be issued on the same day but after reaching there I discovered that it cannot be issued on the same day.

On the Visa counter, a lady was sitting in her traditional Muslim attire. The lady asked me “Why are you applying for Visa from Kolkata and not from Guwahati? We have an office in Guwahati too.” I said, “I am currently stationed at Allahabad, so Kolkata is near to me”. On this, she gets annoyed and said, “You should have to get it issued by Guwahati office”. I again repeated the same thing. Then she asked, “How far is Allahabad from Guwahati?” I said politely, “almost 1700 km”. she exclaimed, “Is it?” it seems she was not familiar with the length and breadth of India and after that, she quietly kept the Visa application form and asked me to come on next day.

I came to a Hotel in Kolkata and cancelled the ticket which was for the next day. I decided to book tickets for Dhaka only after getting final Visa. I spent the whole day sitting in the Hotel and next day I was waiting for 5 pm because I was expecting to get Visa at 5 o’clock in the evening. But suddenly I got a call from an unknown number. I picked up the call. It was from Bangladesh High Commission. I was informed that there was some problem going on in the server at Dhaka and therefore, Visa cannot be issued before Monday. I requested the person who called me to issue Visa somehow otherwise it will be too late for me. He said that since the entire process is computerized so nothing is in their hand and they have to depend on ICT for everything.

I was going to Dhaka to present a research paper at an international conference and one of the papers was on ICT. In that paper, I have advocated for adoption ICT in all possible aspects of life and now ICT is showing its cruel face which I had not mentioned in my paper. It seems ICT is laughing at me and saying

“Duniya hai mere pitche, lekin main tere pitche”

It was Friday on that day. I was shocked and worried too. The conference for which I was going was scheduled on Monday itself. It means Visa will be of no use if it would be issued on Monday. I called to my friend cum research scholar in Dhaka Prof. Sogir Hossain and informed him the situation. He was also very worried. After all, we were going to meet after a long gap so both of us were excited to see each other but all of a sudden it seemed that all our plans for the next few days would be crashed.

After some time, he has given me one name and reference and asked me to meet the person in the Bangladesh High Commission. Immediately I rushed towards the office of Bangladesh High Commission. I took an appointment with the person who was named by my friend. He was the Counselor General of the High Commission. I was waiting in the waiting room. In the waiting room, there were a few other people also waiting to meet someone. I was chatting casually with a few of them. One interesting thing in the room was the introduction of people. Generally, we used to introduce ourselves with our name, then our designation, our caste, religion etc. In the waiting room, everybody was introducing themselves as either INDIAN or BANGLADESHI and this was the only introduction for most of the people present in the room.

More than the idea of missing of the conference, I was thinking about the embarrassment that I would have to go through after going back from Kolkata. I was thinking how I would face my friends and colleagues that Bangladesh has rejected my Visa. If the USA would have refused to issue Visa then there are fair chances that one might become Prime Minister of India but Bangladesh…? 

However, my fortune favours and I received a phone call on my mobile that server is fixed and my Visa is ready. I was asked to collect it from the counter. I rushed towards the counter and after some wait, I got my passport with proper Visa.

I came back to the Hotel. I had decided to go to Dhaka by bus. The reason was I wanted to see Bangladesh elaborately. I believe that the atmosphere at the airports is not different whether it is in India or Bangladesh, but if I have to see real Bangladesh then I must travel by bus. My belief was true and I found that a common Bangladeshi citizen is similar to a common Indian citizen and travels in the bus and enjoys his/her life to its full extent. He sings, dance, cracks jokes.

We crossed the border at Benapole near Kolkata and completed immigration formalities. The other side of the border was Bangladesh. Completely identical in all respect, but a different country with a different currency, different name and different mobile network and again I was reminded of the dialogue from a Hindi movie Sarfaros:

“Siyasat ke dalalo ne zameen pe lakir khich ke mulk ke do tukade kar diye aur dono taraf

ke zahilo ko yeh fisala karne ka adhikar mil gaya ki kaun sa gadha takht pe baithega”.

I am always mesmerized by the beauty of Bangladesh. On both sides of the roads, there were green paddy fields. However, the road conditions were relatively poor. This time I experienced one problem which Bangladesh facing is the traffic jam. Later I came to know during the conference that Bangladesh especially Dhaka is famous for its traffic jam. Our bus was also a victim of same. After the whole day of travel, the bus reached on the bank of river Padma. There another big experience was waiting. I found that the bus was shipped on a big ferry. The ferry was so big that it had accommodated around ten big buses. The ferry travelled for approximately 45 minutes and after that, the bus was on the other side of the river.

Again after the run of around two hours, the bus entered the Dhaka city and finally it was the time to face the great traffic jam of Dhaka city. The distance of approximately 15 kilometres was travelled in around two hours and finally, the time came that one of my friend, Mr Salauddin (who became my friend during the journey) informed me that the destination has arrived.

Mr Salauddin was my co-passenger on the bus. He got the seat with me on the bus. He was very friendly and cooperative. In the bus, he asked me in Hindi if I am going to Dhaka and I said “yes”. I asked him about his nationality and he told that he is a Bangladeshi and then I astonishingly asked him how he can speak Hindi so well. He said that his grandmother is from Bihar in India and he used to talk in Hindi at his home. This was a unique learning for me that people in Bangladesh also speak in Hindi at their homes. Throughout the journey, Mr Salauddin has taken all possible care of mine. I was in touch with my friend Md. Sogir Hossain through his mobile as my mobile network was not working in Bangladesh.

After getting down on the bus, I was taken to the Dhaka Club. It was a beautiful residential Hotel and I was informed that only privileged people are accommodated in the Dhaka Club. I felt proud of myself and happy to be placed in the privileged category. The person sitting on the counter was speaking in Hindi.

Next day, my programme was to deliver lectures at the Jagannath University, Dhaka. I completed my breakfast before 8 am. Md. Sogir Hossain came by 8 am and take me to the Jagannath University which is situated around 16 kilometres away from the Dhaka Club. On the way, he has shown me the race course of Dhaka where the historic surrender of Pakistani Army taken place which is considered as the world’s biggest surrenders. A group of around 95000 Pakistani shoulders have surrendered before the Indian army on 16^th December 1971. My heart filled up with the joy and glory of being an Indian. On the way, there was the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, High court of Dhaka Division. Bangladesh does not have the concept of states like India rather they have divisions and the entire country is divided into eight divisions and each of the division is having one High Court.

Md. Sogir Hossain is a Professor in the Department of Finance, Jagannath University, Dhaka and I have the privilege to be called as his PhD supervisor. He is a very creative person and everyone loves his company. He has a very inquisitive mind which is essential to be a good researcher and I always get impressed with his ability to see the same thing from a different perspective.

At Jagannath University, I interacted with the students of MBA, BBA and MBA (Evening) programmes. Students were very excited and enthusiastic to interact with a foreign Professor. Interestingly, they asked to engage classes in Hindi. One of them said that they had attended the class of Professors in English and Bengali and they are interested to listen to lectures in Hindi. I asked how they understand Hindi. They said that it is due to the Hindi TV Channels and Hindi Cinema. Anyway, the visit to the Jagannath University was very successful. I met with the Vice Chancellor too and I must appreciate the dynamism of Hon’ble Vice Chancellor.

I came back to the Dhaka Club which was my residence in Dhaka and had my dinner. At midnight I felt stomachache and could not sleep the whole night. In the morning, I ranged to the reception counter and told my problem. Within a few minutes, a person came with two medicines. I ate both the medicines. I already made a call to Md. Sogir and he said that he would bring some medicines for me. When I came out of my room and deposited the room key at the reception, I found that one young and smart boy was waiting for me. He informed me that he came to pick me up. There was one more American lady Professor who was supposed to accompany me. After few minutes of wait, she came out and we headed towards the University of Dhaka.

Soon we were on the premises of Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka. It is a nine-story building full of all kinds of amenities. Truly speaking, I was surprised as well as mesmerized with the infrastructure of the University of Dhaka. The entire campus was thrilling with academicians gathered from all over the world along with the young boys and girls who were the students of the University of Dhaka. I always admire the dressing sense of Bengalis especially the girls. Irrespective of the fashion going on in the market on a particular time, they always have a special Saari for every occasion. So the campus was also full of the beautiful and cheerful girls wearing colourful sari.  

The University of Dhaka has a very rich history and is known as the 'Oxford of the East'. Allahabad is also known as the 'Oxford of the East'. Thus, I was from one Oxford to another Oxford. However, I don't appreciate when either Allahabad or Dhaka is referred to as 'Oxford of the East'. For me, it seems as the symbol of slavery. This is because I believe that our civilisation, culture and Universities such as Nalanda, Takhshila and Vikramshila are older centres of academics than that of Oxford and this is very discouraging when people say Allahabad as Oxford of the East. Rather Oxford should have been called 'Allahabad of the West'.   

  

The conference started in its conference hall. In the meantime, I had another dose of medicines brought by Md. Sogir. My presentation was next day. After the lunch, Md. Sogir took me to the market and bought some clothes for me and my family. I was stopping him but he did not stop and paid all the bills.

Since I could not sleep whole night so I come back to the hotel room and slept. In the evening,    there was dinner at the Vice Chancellors residence. We went there and had our dinner.

Next day, I had three presentations which went well. In the evening, there was conference dinner and cultural programme. It was in the Hotel La-Meridian, a five-star hotel in Dhaka.

The whole memory of Dhaka is very refreshing. People in Dhaka are very cooperative and helpful. Dhaka is very crowded city and therefore, traffic jam is a big problem in Dhaka. However, the way Bangladesh has transformed itself in last two-three decades is remarkable. Once Bangladesh and Pakistan were the same countries but after its liberation from Pakistan, Bangladesh has progressed fairly well and it is way ahead of Pakistan in respect of almost all the critical parameters, which is evident from the available data and in some aspects such as infant mortality it is doing well even than that of India.

Bangladesh has done remarkable progress in the field of mobile phones and through this, they are penetrating in the field of mobile banking too. Currently, Bangladesh is a leader in this part of the world in this field and making a huge progress in bringing financial inclusion to those who are deprived of the formal banking channels.    

Hindi and Hindi cinema both is very popular in Bangladesh and people could speak Hindi. I found that students of Bangladesh are very much aware of the happenings in India. I found one lady at the University of Dhaka was speaking in Bhojpuri to her family members. I could not resist myself to ask about the source of her Bhojpuri Language and she told that her grandparents were from Bihar in India. This was another information as well as news to those who are advocating for recognising Bhojpuri as one of the languages in India. In fact, Bhojpuri is the only Indian Global language because it is spoken in more than 11 countries of the world.   

Bangladesh has successfully completed its project of issuing identification to all its citizens which is similar to the AADHAR in India. This journey was very peculiar for me as I have travelled through all the modes of transport such as railway, roadway, waterway, airways. 

I think this kind of visits should be encouraged which would strengthen the relationship between two countries. Both the countries share a rich history, both the countries have the same DNA, both the countries have fought their war of independence from British together and if the steps are taken appropriately then it can lead to the creation of win-win situation for both the nations.